Over at EFF's <I>Deep Links</I> Fred von Lohmann has posted news that nearly caused me to stroke out at my keyboard. Basically, the RIAA has submitted a document to the triennial review of the DMCA, stating that "the fact that permission to make a copy in particular circumstances is often or even routinely granted [does not] necessarily establish that the copying is a fair use when the copyright owner withholds that authorization." In other words, they've changed their mind since last year, when RIAA mouthpiece Don Verilli told the Supreme Court, "The record companies . . . have said, for some time now . . . that it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod."

English, she is a funny language as she is spoke. But strangest by far is the odd bunch of words we use to connote groups of animals. A <I>chain</I> of bobolinks? A <I>nuisance</I> of cats? A <I>raft</I> of otter? A <I>mob</I> of kangaroo&mdash;wait, shouldn't that be a <I>court</I> of kangaroo?

<I>Computerworld</I> posts a fascinating interview with J. Presper Eckert, who co-invented the first practical all-electronic computer&mdash;a <I>tube</I> computer.

Mostly because the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum had Julia Child do a hilarious Julia Child parody for its "Life on Other Worlds" exhibit, in which she "made" primordial soup. Still, sorry to see this theory go.

Maybe just better run. Mark Thoma at <I>Economist's View</I> has some thoughts. So do his readers.

Over at <I>Popular Science</I>, there's a post about a gargantuan "cruise blimp" that just seems too cool to ever get built. Check out the illustration of the observation deck&mdash;it's like an irony-free <A HREF="http://www.jamesgoodmangallery.com/mccall/pages/exhibframez.html">Bruce McCall</A> illo, which is kind of disorienting.

<i>JA captured the image: I watch as Michael Bishop works with a dirty pot. Robert Baird sits in the hotspot. Lukas Lipinski monitors the session.</i>

Hours of mindless fun!

The BTP posits that it's possible to take a solid sphere, cut it into pieces, rearrange the pieces using nothing more than rotation and translation, and then re-assemble them into two identical copies of the original sphere. "In other words," <I>www.kiro5hin.org</I&gt; explains, "you've doubled the volume of the original sphere."